Sewing machine



April 22 1924.. 1,491,267

I. JOFFE ET AL SEWING MACHINE Filed May 24 X922 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 (Eawanton.

4% ,k a; aw 85 Sum/1401 April 22 1924. 1,491,267

I. JOFFE ETAL SEWING MACHINE Filed y 24. 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 "A ril22, 1924, 7 1,491,267

I. JOFFE ET AL SEWING MACHINE File y 24. 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet s M r W Aril 22, 1924. v 1,491,267

I. JQFFE ET AL SEWING MACHINE il y- 24. 1922 f) Sheets-Sheet 4 IHIHIHHHI" I April 22 1924.

I F E ET A EWING MACHINE Filed y 24. 1922 s sheets-slam 5 Q Q v r BE...

Patented Apr. 22, 1924.

once STATES ISAAC .TOFFE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND

resins? BENJAMIN SGHXNARTZ, OF JERSEY CITY,

NEW messy".

SEWING MACHINE.

Application filed May 24,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, .ISAAC Jorrn and BENJAMIN SCHWARTZ, citizens of theUnited States, and residents, respectively, of the city of New York, inthe county of Queens and State of New York, and of Jersey City, in thecounty of Hudson and State of New Jersey, haveainvented certainnew anduseful Improvements in Sewing Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to improvements in sewing machines, andmore particularly to powertransmitting devices for use with powerbenches, carrying a number of sewing-machines, which are drivenindependently of one another from a rotating shaft, the latter beingdisposed underneath the table portion of the bench.

The main object of the invention is to provide a simple, eflicient anddurable power transmitting mechanism, the elements of which are soconstructed that they may be removed as a unit from the driving shaftwithout interfering with the operation of" the other transmittersthereon.

Another object of the invention is to so arrange and design the mainbearing of the transmission that it may be quickly and easily alignedwith the other bearings of the driving shaft.

A further object of the invention is to provide a power shaft which ismade up of a plurality of sections, united by extremely simple means, sothat the said sections may be taken apart quickly without the aid of anyother tool but a screw driver or a wrench.

A further object of the inventionis to protect the operator from therotating parts of the power transmitting apparatus by providing ashield, which looks the brake-carrying lever of the device in brakingposition when the shield is swung to open or uncovering position. I

A still further object of the invention is to produce a powertransmitting apparatus of the type mentioned, which is so simple inconstruction that it is capable of manufacture on a commercial scale, orin other words one which is not so difiicult to produce as to be beyondthe reasonable cost of such a con trivance.

With these and objects in view, which will more fully appearas thenature of the inrention is better understood, the same con- 1922. SerialNo. 563,285.

sists in the combination, arrangement and construction of partshereinafter described, pointed out in the appended claims andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, it being understood that manychanges may be made in the size and proportion of the several parts anddetails of construction within the scope of the appended claims,

without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantagesof the invention.

One of the many possible embodiments of the invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a frontelevationofaportion of a work bench, containing the improved powertransmitting apparatus; Fig. 2 is a vertical, longitudinal section takenthrough the apparatus, on a larger scale; Fig. 8 is a section taken online 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4i is asection taken on line 4+4 of Fig. 2; Fig.5 is a section taken on line 55 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a section taken online 66 of Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is an elevation, partly in section. of amodified shaft coupling; Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of the saidcoupling; Fig. 9 is a section taken on line 99 of Fig. 7, on a largerscale; Fig. 10 is an elevation of a further modification of a shaftcoupling;

Fig. 11 is abottom plan view of the coupling shown in Fig. 10; and Fig.12 is a section taken on line 1212 of Fig. 10, on a larger scale.

Referring new first to Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, of the drawings, thenumeral 20 indicates a bench, comprising a table 20, provided with atrough 21, into which the finished articles aredeposited by theoperators. As usual in constructions of this type there are two paralleltables provided in the same plane,the trough 21 being located betweenthe same. The tables and trough are mounted upon legs 22,-arranged inpairs each leg comprising an upper section 23 and a lower section 24,which areadjustably secured to gether by screw bolts 25, or similarfastening devices, so as to permit the heights of the legs to be variedaccording to the requirements. The upper sections 23 of each pair oflegs are connected by a transverse i rail 23, on which rests the troughabove referred to. The trough is made up of a bottom section 26 and sidesections 27, the bottom section being placed upon the transverse rails23 and the side sections on inclined portions 28 of the leg sections 23. These inclined portions areprovided with I-sha-p'ed projections 29,into which the ends of adjoining side sections 27 are fitted, as clearlyshown in'Figs. 3 and 6 of the drawings, they being thus prevented fromlongitudinal and lateral movement on the table legs. To hold the sidesections 27 of the trough against upward movement, the tables 20 areextended over the same (Fig. 3).

Upon the tables are mounted sewing-- machine heads 30, one rowon' eachsideaof the trough, each row being actuated from a driving shaft 31,coupled to a "motor 32.

he two motors of'the bench are disposed upon a shelf 33 at one end ofthe same. The sewinginachiiie heads are arrangedin such a manner thatone of the same i's"-dis posed on each side of the troughhetwieen .twoadjacent legs 22.

The shaft 31 is connected by a suitable coupling 34 with the motor, andbe made of a plurality of sections, suitably joined. The said shaft isjo'urnaled in sleeves 35, which will 'be-mor'e' fully describedhereinafterysaid sleeves being "rotatably mounted in" bearings 36, thatare either made integral with or carried by frames oi. There is one'ofthese frames associated with each leg 22,- each'frame being adjustablymounted, in a manner presently to be described, upon 'awsubst'antiallyelliptical body 38, which is adj'ustabl'y carried "by the respective legsection 231 The; elliptical body extends transversely of T the powerbencl'r in a vertical plane and embraces, as it were, the bearing frame37/ The connection between the bearing-frame and" the said ellipticalbody is made by a plurality of vertically extending screw bolts-e0. Twoof these screw bolts extend through a horizontal portion fl on theuppen'part'of the elliptical body and one screw bolt through ahorizontal extension 42 on'the lowerpart of the elliptical body, thetirst'mentioned two bolts bearing against a horizontal ledge 43 on thebearing frame 37- and the-lower screw bolt projecting into a recess 44in'the bearing frame. The three screw bolts-serve to adjust thebearing36 in a vertical plane. In order to permit the bearing to be adjustedtransversely of the power bench, or in other words in a horizontalplane, the ellip- .1 body must be made shiftable transrely on the legsection 23. For this purpose the horizontalextensions all and f2 areprovided with lugs 45 and 46, respectively. Through these lugs passscrew bolts 4:7, that extend through horizontal" slots-48 in the legsections 23. r

-VVith each sewing-machine head ,co-operates a power transmittingapparatus, ,djisposed adjacent one of the legs 22. -This apparatusincludes a pulley-{50, constituting the drivenmember ;of the apparatus,said Over the pulleys runs a belt 52, transmitting the rotation of thedriven member 50 to the pulley 51. The pulley 50 is fixedly attached tothe sleeve 35 on one side of the bearing 36, the-said sleeve being,preferably, made integral, on the other side of the said bearing, with aclutch drum 54, having an outer peripheral groove 55, for engagementwith a brake member The drum carries an annular friction member 57,adapted to cooperate with a driving clutch member '58, mounted upon thedriving shaft 31. The connection between the clutch member 58 and theshaft 31 is'made by a "collar 59, that is fixed to the shaft 31 by setscrews 60 and provided with twoor more pins 61, which extend in parallelrelation to the longitudinal axis .of the shaft 31 into bores 62 in thehub 63 of the clutch member 58. lVithin the said hub is'mount'ed athrust bearing 64-, for co-operation with a shifting lever 65,hereinafter to be described. The hub 66 of the drum 5st abuts against athrust bearing 67 in the bearing 36, to lessen the friction between thesaid drum and hearing.

The driving clutch member 58 is shiftable longitudinally upon the shaft31. For shifting the said driving clutch member, so as to engage withthe driven member 54, there is a lever 68 fulcrumed at 70 to anextension 71 of the bearing frame 37. This lever carries thelever abovereferred to. The lever 65 BXLGllClS substantially vertically, its freeend being fork-shapeo as shown at 65, its prongs being in engagementwith the thrust bearing 64. The lower end of the lever 65 is alsofork-shaped, as clearly indicated at 72 in Fig. 3 of the drawings, itfitting over the lever 68 and frame extension 71, it being held inposition by the fulcrum pin 70. In order to hold the lever 65 rigidlyupon the lever 68, the latter is provided with a vertical extension 73,through which passes a screw bolt 7 L into the lever 65. The head 75 ofthe screw bolt abuts against one face of the extension 73 and a lock nut76 against the opposite face thereof. The screw bolt 74 permits of anadjustment of the lever 65 in relation to the lever 68 in case the partswear. The outer end of the lever 68 is connected by a rod 77 with atreadle 73 of any suitable construction. The rod 77 is, preferably, madeof two sections, that areadjustubly secured togetherby a coupling 7 9. Aspring 80, secured to the lever 68 and to some stationary part of themechanism, serves to hold, normally, the brake block 56 in the groove 55inthe drum 5e.

shield 81 swivels around a pin 32, the latter being carried byaniextension' 83 of Lil) the bearing frame 37. This shield encloses andsurrounds the front portion of the pulley 50, it being held in closingposition by a spring S 1, engaging a lug on the frame member 37. Theshield is provided witha nose 86, that is adapted to contact with theunder-face of the lever 68 when the said shield is swung to openposition, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5 of the drawings.

The driving shaft 31 is enclosed in tubular members 87, which extendfrom the shield 81 of one transmitter substantially to the lever 65 ofthe other transmitter, (Figs. 1 and 2). The tubular members are keptconcentrically in relation to the driving shaft by being seated incylindrical recesses 88 in standards 89 and 90. The standards 89 areadjustably fixed by screws 91 to the extensions 83 on the bearing frames87. The standards 90, on the other hand, are pivoted at 92 to theextension 71 on the said frame members. Each standard carries 2. lug 93,against which bears a screw bolt 94:, that extends through therespective extension 71. The screw bolts hold the standards 90 insubstantially vertical position, preventing a disengagement of saidtubular members from the standards.

As above mentioned, the driving shaft 31 may be made of a plurality ofsections, in order to permit of a convenient mounting and dismountingthereof on the power bench. There are two shaftsections associated witheach power transmitting device, more particularly a short section 81'and a longer section 31". The shorter. section extends from thestandard89 to the standard 90 on the same frame member, projectingsomewhat beyond the said standards as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of thedrawings, and the longer section extends from the shorter section to thenext shorter section in the series. The shorter sections are ofasomewhat larger diameter than the longer sections, and provided in bothends with cylindri cal bores 95, into which fit the longer sections. Theconnection between the shorter and longer sections is made by screws 96.

A modified shaft coupling is illustrated in Figs. 7 to 9, inclusive, ofthe drawings,

In this case, the'shaft sections are of the same diameter, the abuttingends thereof be ing placed into two semi-cylindrical bodies 97, whichare united with the shaft sections by screw bolts 98. These bolts areprovided,

adjacent their heads 99, with polygonal shoulders 100, extending intoone ofthe semi-cylindrical bodies 97, to prevent rotation of thescrew-bolt, when the nut 101 is screwed into place.

A further modification of the shaft coupling is shown in Figs. 10 to 12,inclusive. In this instance, a coupling sleeve 102 is employed, havinglongitudinal openings 103 in opposite faces thereof, through which theThe operation of this device is as follows The driving shaft on the workbench is rotating continuously, and, in order to transm1t its rotationto any one of thesewing rna chine heads thereon, the respective treadleis depressed, whereby the respective. brake block 56 is disengaged fromthe drum 5e and the driving clutch member 58 shifted into operativerelation with the said drum. W hen in engagement, the rotation of thedriving clutch member 58 is transmitted to the pulley 50 and thus to thepulley 51 on the machine head. When the treadle is re leased, the spring50 returns the lever 68 to the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings,whereby the brake is applied to the drum 54: and the driving clutchmember 58 is permitted to move toward the standard 90 adjacent thereto.The driving clutch member has a tendency to move in the directionmentioned as soon as released. The end thrust of the driven clutchmember 54 is taken up by the bearing 36, so that the engaging anddisengaging of the said driven clutch member with the driving clutchmem-' ber does in no way effect the operation of the other powertransmitting devices on the bench.

The tubular members 87 and the shields 81 serve as coverings for thedriving shaft and that part of the power transmitting de vice with whichthe operator would come into contact. Whenever a shield is shifted toopen position, it is impossible to actuate the respective powertransmitting apparatus by reason of the nose 86 preventing a shift ingof the lever 68, and thus an engagement of the driving clutch member 58with the driven clutch member of the device. The operators are thuseffectively guarded against accident. I

It is to be observed that, no matter how tight the belt 52 is drawn on atransmitter, it does not create a lateral stress on the shaft, by reasonof the fact that the stress is taken up by the frame member 37, againstwhich the sleeve 35 rests. The same conditions prevail when the brake isapplied to the drum 54.

Attention is called to the fact that each power transmitter is placed asnear as possible to one of the legs 22, the result being that almost theentire space under the respective table portion becomes available foruse.

It is to be noted that each individual power transmitter can be removedas a unit from the bench by loosening the screw bolts 47, connecting thebody 38 thereof with the respective leg section 23.

Inasmuch as the levers and 68 are mounted on the bearing frames 37, thesaid levers will follow the bearing frames when the shaft sections arebeing aligned, or in other words no separate adjustments must be made asfar as these levers are concerned.

Attention is called to the fact that the ulley 50 may be convenientlyaligned with the pulley 51 on the machine head without disturbing anyother element of the transmitting device. In fact, the pulley 50 may beremoved from the device without changing the positions of other elementsof the device, the said pulley being for this pur pose made of twosections, as clearly shown in Fig. 5 ofthe drawings, said two sectionsbeing united by screws 50'.

What we claim is 1. ,In a power transmitting apparatus, the combinationwith a supporting leg, of a bearing supporting body adjustably securedthereto, a bearing on said body adjustable thereon in a direction atright angles to that in which the adjustment of said supporting body iscapable of being made on said leg, a shaft journaled in said bearing, aclutch on one side of said bear ing, and a pulley on said shaft on theother side of said bearing, said bearing supporting body with all theelements thereon being detachable as a unit from said leg.

2. A power transmitting apparatus accordingto claim 1, comprising abrake lever operatively connected with said bearing, and a brake on saidlever co-operating with said clutch, said lever and brake beingremovable with said bearing supporting body from said leg withoutdisturbing the operative relation thereof to said clutch.

3. In a power transmiting apparatus, the combination with a supportingleg, of a bearing supporting body adjustably secured thereto, a bearingon said body adjustable thereon in a direction at right angles to thatin which the adjustment of said supporting body is capable of being madeon said leg, a sleeve journaled in said bearing, a shaft rotatable insaid sleeve, said sleeve having an extension on one side of said Ibearing, a driven clutch member of a power transmis sion on saidextension, said extension abutting against said bearing, a drivingclutch member fixed to said shaft for co-operation with said drivenclutch member, and a pulley fixed to said sleeve on the other side ofsaid bearing, the thrust of said clutch being taken up by bearing.

t. In a power transmiting apparatus, the combination with a supportingleg, of a bearing supporting body horizontally adjustable thereon, abearing on said body vertically adjustable thereon, a shaft journaled insaid bearing, a clutch on said shaft on one side of said bearing, and apulley on said shaft on the other side of said bearing, said bearingsupporting body with all the elements thereon being detachable as a unitfrom said leg.

5. I11 a power transmitting apparatus, the combination with a supportingleg, of an elliptical supporting body adjustably secured thereto, aframe on said body adjustable thereon in a direction at right angles towhich the adjustment of said supporting body is capable of being made onsaid leg, a bearing on said frame, a shaft journaled in said bearing, aclutch on said shaft on one side of said bearing, and a pulley on saidshaft on the other side of said bearing, said bearing supporting bodywith all the elements thereon being detachable as aunit from said leg.

6. A power transmitting apparatus according to claim 5, comprising abrake lever pivoted to said frame, and a brake on said leverco-operating with said clutch, said brake lever and brake beingremovable with said bearing supporting body from said leg withoutdisturbing the operative relation thereof to said clutch.

7. In a power transmitting apparatus, the combination with a supportingleg, of a bearing supporting body adjustably secured thereto, a frame onsaid body adjustable thereon in a direction at right angles to which theadjustment of said supporting body is capable of being made on said leg,a bearing on said frame, a shaft journaled in said bearing, a clutch onsaid shaft comprising a driving member and a driven member, one of saidmembers being longitudinally shiftable on said shaft, a brake leverpivotally connected with said frame, a brake on said lever cooperatingwith said clutch, and an arm fixed to said brake lever for actuating theshiftable element of said clutch.

8. In a power transmitting apparatus according to claim 7, said armbeing adjustably fixed to said lever.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 8th day of October, A. D. 1921.

ISAAC J OFFE. BENJAMIN SCHWARTZ.

